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Many people complain about advertisements as an obnoxious way for companies to invade our everyday lives and cram their products down our throats, but that's not all that advertisements are good for. The advertisements on this list are excellent examples of effective advertising strategies for social issue campaigns that let their voices be heard.

Torture Victims Are People Just Like You And Me

Advertising Agency: Advico Y&R, Zurich, Switzerland

Stop The Violence: Don't Drink And Drive

Advertising Agency: Terremoto Propaganda, Curitiba, Brazil

Premature Ending: "If you smoke, statistically your story will end 15% before it should."

"THE END. If you smoke, statistically your story will end 15% before it should. For help with quiting call QUITTLINE on 0200 00 22 00" (Advertising Agency: Iris, London, UK)

World Wide Fund For Nature: Frightening vs. More Frightening

Advertising Agency: DDB&CO., Istanbul, Turkey

Your Skin Color Shouldn't Dictate Your Future

Advertising Agency: Publicis Conseil, Paris, France

Deforestation Continues With The Turn Of A Page

Advertising Agency: LINKSUS, Beijing, China

Unhate

Advertising Agency: Fabrica, Italy

Elm Grove Police Department: Slower Is Better

Advertising Agency: Cramer-Krasselt, Milwaukee, USA

Save Paper - Save The Planet

Advertising Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi, Copenhagen, Denmark

Air Pollution Kills 60.000 People A Year

Advertising Agency: unknown

Liking Isn't Helping. Be A Volunteer. Change A Life

Advertising Agency: Publicis, Singapore

Bird Conservation: If You Don't Pick It Up They Will

Advertising Agency: TBWAHuntLascaris, Johannesburg, South Africa

What We See When You Smoke

Advertising Agency: JWT, Atlanta, USA

Animal Anti-Cruelty League: That's Not A Football

Advertising Agency: Lowe Bull, Cape Town, South Africa

Bangalore Traffic Police: Don't Talk While Driving

Advertising Agency: Mudra Group, India

Child Soldiers: It's Not Happening Here, But It's Happening Now

Creative/Art director Pius Walker, Amnesty International, Switzerland.

Censorship Tells The Wrong Story

Advertising Agency: Memac Ogilvy & Mather Dubai, UAE

Distracted Driving: Think Of Both Sides

Advertising Agency: Red Pepper, Ekaterinburg, Russia

Every 60 Seconds a Species Dies Out. Each Minute Counts

Advertising Agency: Scholz & Friends, Berlin, Germany

Innocence In Danger: Where's The Pedophile?

Art Director: Michael Arguello, Copywriter: Bassam Tariq, Additional credits: Jason Musante

Sexual Predators Can Hide In Your Child's Smartphone

Advertising Agency: Herezie, Paris, France

Smoking Causes Premature Aging

Advertising Agency: Euro RSCG Australia

You're Not A Sketch. Say No To Anorexia

Advertising Agency: Revolution Brasil

Neglected Children Are Made To Feel Invisible. Stop Child Abuse Now

"To dramatize the issue of neglect, we placed mannequins dressed as children behind billposters. When the inevitable happened, we revealed a second message." (Australian Childhood Foundation, JWT Melbourne)

Global Action In The Interest of Animals: Plastic Bags Kill

Advertising Agency: BBDO Malaysia, MALAYSIA, Kuala Lumpur / Advertising Agency: Duval Guillaume, Belgium

What Goes Around Comes Around. Keep The Sea Clean

Advertising Agency: JWT, Dubai, UAE

Tailgating Isn't Worth It. Give Trucks Room

Advertising Agency: Amélie Company, Denver, Colorado, USA

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society: When You See A Tuna, Think Panda

Advertising Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, Singapore

Sleepiness Is Stronger Than You. Don't Drive Sleepy

Advertising Agency: BBDO Bangkok, Thailand

See how easy feeding the hungry can be?

Advertising Agency: TBWAHuntLascaris, Johannesburg, South Africa

Causing Cancer By Yourself

Advertising Agency: Dentsu, Beijing, China

Deforestation And The Air We Breathe: Before It's Too Late

Advertising Agency: TBWAPARIS, France

For The Homeless, Every Day Is A Struggle

Advertising Agency: Clemenger BBDO, Melbourne, Australia

The Prvention Beer Mug: Please Don't Lose Control Over Your Drinking

Advertising Agency: EURORSCG Prague, Czech Republic

One Child Is Holding Something That's Been Banned In America To Protect Them. Guess Which One?

Advertising Agency: Grey, Toronto, Canada

Breast Cancer Awareness Bra

Advertising Agency: Bolero, Fortaleza, Brazil

What Goes Around Comes Around: Stop The Iraq War

Advertising Agency: Big Ant International, New York, USA

UN Women: Auto-Complete Shows Perceptions Of Women

Advertising Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, Dubai, UAE

Don't Buy Exotic Animal Souvenirs

Advertising Agency: LOWE GGK, Warsaw, Poland

Animal Abuse And Shelters: Same Pet, Different Owner

Advertising Agency: TBWA-Santiago Mangada Puno, Philippines

Buckle up. Stay alive

Advertising Agency: Lg2, Quebec, Canada

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40 Of The Most Powerful Social Issue Ads That'll Make You Stop And Think

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Many people complain about advertisements as an obnoxious way for companies to invade our everyday lives and cram their products down our throats, but that's not all that advertisements are good for. The advertisements on this list are excellent examples of effective advertising strategies for social issue campaigns that let their voices be heard.

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At the recent Youth Marketing Strategy conference, some of the most successful brands, agencies and media owners in the 16-24 space came together to share case studies and wisdom. Useful ways to engage young people based on their values, lifestyles and media usage were discussed.

But as trends consultant Sean Pillot de Chenecey - aka Captain Crikey - noted in his opening talk, this is one of the most over-researched and analysed demographics in the world. Marketing professionals have invested a lot of thought over the years in understanding how they can make their messages relevant to today's youth audience by completely understanding their lives, habits and attitudes.

It's obvious why they continue. Young people are key to numerous markets, from mobile, fashion and technology to alcohol, snack foods and entertainment. Imagine the somewhat maligned British high street without them and you'll picture many more empty shops. This audience spends money. In the case of students, who account for around half the UK youth population, they contribute an estimated £20 billion to the UK economy every year.

A huge 84% of students will travel abroad this year, spending money on flights and ferries but also on the associated items that come with travel, such as luggage, toiletries and swimwear. Students spend over £3.2 billion on nights out alone; one in ten of all drinks sold in pubs, bars and clubs during term time is bought by a student. The average student now takes around £2000 of belongings to university with them, from laptops, tablets and smartphones to hair straighteners (owned by an eyebrow-raising 49% of all students).

This is what they are spending now, but there's also the future to think about. Students are the next generation of ABC1 consumers. Capture their interest and commitment today and you'll secure a relationship for life.

One key question that needs answering is this: what do young people actually want from us as marketers?

The Youth Insight Report this year began to address the question. For instance, we've heard a lot about social media marketing of late. Brands have learned the importance of transparency, relevance and shared conversation versus traditional push approaches. We know young people are big users of social media - 97% in our recent survey use Facebook and 45% are on Twitter. However less is known about what they really want and expect from brands through these platforms.

'Engagement' is the current marketing mantra, but in our research almost half said explicitly that they do not want to talk to brands using social media. A third said they do not follow a single brand, and the response to all our questions around the value of brands using social media for the consumer - such as the chance for one-to-one dialogue or the convenience of getting a quick answer - were met with a shrug and silence.

Those that do follow brands have clear expectations. They want either material gain - some free products, a good discount or perhaps a winnable competition - or they want to be entertained. That's pretty much it. Having a conversation does not feature.

This is not to dismiss social media marketing; as a channel for traffic to our own website and for increasing brand awareness, the likes of Facebook and Twitter are very important. It's more about remembering context. At Youth Marketing Strategy, student-popular travel publisher Lonely Planet explained an epiphany moment they had when, months after sharing content and encouraging discussion, a Facebook user piped up and asked why they didn't announce they had a new book for sale. TBG Digital's Jeremy Waite summarised Red Bull's successful social strategy as: "50% of people go online to waste time. So let's give them some really cool shit to do when they get there."

The young people in our research like brands that make life easier for them, not those that want a conversation. Convenience is highly valued and is what the majority like most about buying online. While a worrying 52% admit they will buy things whether they can afford to or not, price remains the top priority when deciding. Young people want things that work with the technology they own. Most now have smartphones (74% and rising quickly), watch TV on their laptops (75%) and many will be using Kindles and tablets for their studies this year (around half will own one of either in 2012/13). These are the insights marketers should look to when planning for success.

Further research we are now doing aims to deconstruct the most successful youth brands and work out why they are popular. We've got dozens of students coming into our offices over the coming weeks to help analyse the results of our Youth 100 survey. The full results will be published in October, but early indications are that the majority of top youth brands are not using a secret sauce. Most of them succeed because ultimately they understand what 16-24s want from them.
Luke Mitchell is head of youth strategy at The Beans Group - @thebeansgroup on Twitter. To get more articles like this sent direct to your inbox, s ign up for free membership of the Guardian Media Network. This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional.

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The future of marketing according to youth: what 16-24s want from brands

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At the recent Youth Marketing Strategy conference, some of the most successful brands, agencies and media owners in the 16-24 space came together to share case studies and wisdom. Useful ways to engage young people based on their values, lifestyles and media usage were discussed.

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This is about how they discriminate against people with learning difficulties by not giving them equal pay.

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When wealthy Tory peers like Lord Freud or MPs like Philip Davies, better known for filibustering legislation designed to protect women against violence, call for disabled people to be allowed to receive less than the minimum wage, it's really rather easy to swat their arguments aside.

But what about when it's Rosa Monckton, a friend of the late Princess Diana, who runs a charity that aims to help people with learning disabilities into work?

Monckton, who has stated her determination to be a "voice for the disabled", has put forward a similar argument in The Spectator, while at the same time rounding on their critics.

However, the fact that it is her that is making the case changes nothing. To the contrary.

Rosa Monckton, whose daughter has Down's Syndrome, points to an inconvenient truth as the basis for her case. There are 1.4 million people with learning disabilities in the UK. Some 1.3 million of them are unemployed.

"Pay is the thorny issue," she says, when it comes to getting them into employment, and she goes on to bemoan a rare bright spot in the unlovely legacy of Chancellor George Osborne: the fact that the minimum wage is rising.

She seems to be suggesting that an unemployment rate of greater than 90 per cent is going to magically tumble simply by paying people in that group a bit less than their peers.

Her argument comes crashing down when you realise that it was running at that sort of level prior to Osborne's progressive decision to raise the minimum wage.

There is a far, far bigger problem here than just the "thorny issue" of pay.

Monckton rightly recognises the chronic lack of support available to people with learning disabilities when they leave college. But she grants the Government and its ministers a pass when it comes to doing anything about that.

She warns that "services are closing, and day centres barely exist anymore, so what lies ahead for people like my daughter?"

"Unless the law changes, they can expect a life spent in the shadows, slumped on a sofa, eating the wrong sort of food, watching daytime television."

I'm sorry, but how does legitimising the exploitation of these people address the issue of day centres closing?

She says she hopes "politicians see sense". I hope so too, and that, having done so, they take some much needed action to address the problems she raises by reversing the policies that have led to them.

I hope Spectator readers, and privileged people like Rosa Monckton, further come to see the immorality of the Government continually prioritising their needs at the expense of the needs of her daughter and people like her. That may mean their paying a bit more tax.

So be it. I would happily do so if it meant the centres she spoke of remaining open and if the funds realised facilitated better support and assistance to help people like her daughter into the workplace.

She talks about the dignity of work, and the beneficial effect it has on the people her charity helps. Part of that dignity comes from the dignity of being paid at the end of the day.

That should involve getting paid the minimum wage at the very least, which we should remember is a floor. It is not especially generous, even though it is rising. It is not a living wage, nor anything like it, despite Osborne re-branding it thus. The voluntary Living Wage is set by the Living Wage Foundation and it is based not on what the market will bear, but on what a person needs to enjoy a decent basic standard of living.

"On the whole, employers are not charities, and it is difficult for them to employ people if their output amounts to a loss," Monckton says. What a depressing statement that is. What pitifully low expectations she has for the people she says she wants to help.

I have worked alongside people with learning difficulties. When I was younger, I pushed trolleys at a local supermarket with them. They did the same job as I and our other colleagues did. There is no way that supermarket should have been allowed to exploit them by paying them less than I received (and I really hope that it didn't).

With her status as charity boss and campaigner, she has been allowed by the Spectator to re-open a dangerous door, one that was rightly slammed in the face of Lord Freud and the lamentable Philip Davies, because the issue goes beyond people with learning disabilities.

If you legitimise wage discrimination against them, how long before you legitimise it against people with physical disabilities, like me?

How long before the Government, which keeps banging on about lowering the disability employment gap while doing precious little about it, sees this as an employer friendly way of addressing the issue and getting someone like Penny Mordaunt, the Minister for disabled people, a few cheap brownie points? Cheap being the operative word.

Monckton's arguments, which have already been shot down by Mencap, a charity for people with learning disabilities, are profoundly wrong. The fact that an apparently estimable person is making them this time around shouldn't give them any more legitimacy.

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Workers with learning disabilities deserve equal pay

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When wealthy Tory peers like Lord Freud or MPs like Philip Davies, better known for filibustering legislation designed to protect women against violence, call for disabled people to be allowed to receive less than the minimum wage, it's really rather easy to swat their arguments aside.

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News report on comments made towards gay people

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News report on comments made towards gay people

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This article shows how one man said that gay people are "worse than animals" this is a comment to show the disrespect people can have for gay people.

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Manny Pacquiao has provoked a storm of controversy in his home country after saying people in same-sex relationships "are worse than animals". The 37-year-old, who is running for a seat in the Philippines senate in May's elections as a conservative Christian, made the remark in a video posted on local TV5's election site.

"It's common sense," the eight times world champion, who later apologised, said. "Do you see animals mating with the same sex? Animals are better because they can distinguish male from female. If men mate with men and women mate with women they are worse than animals."

The country's most popular gay comedian, Vice Ganda, posted #PrayForMannyPacquiao to his 6.7m followers on Twitter as he hit back at the boxer, adding: "Some people think they can judge people like God just because they've attended a prayer meeting and read the Bible. The senate needs experts on politics and law, not blind prophets."

The LGBT is a group of people. We are humans. But not animals. Though we're no saints we will pray for Manny Pacquiao.
- jose marie viceral (@vicegandako) February 16, 2016

The singer Aiza Seguerra, who recently married her actress-girlfriend, called on voters to boycott Pacquiao, who is also preparing for his last fight in April, calling him an "ignorant, bigoted hypocrite". Seguerra added: "You might have done our country proud but with your statement, you just showed the whole country why we shouldn't vote for you."

Pacquiao, beaten by Floyd Mayweather in May last year, represents the province of Sarangani in the House of Representatives, though is often absent. In one of his few speeches, Pacquiao quoted heavily from the bible as he attempted to stop a proposed law, since passed, giving free condoms to the poor.

Responding to the controversy via Instagram, Pacquiao initially posted an image of himself with his wife, quoting the Bible and writing: "I rather obey the Lord's command than obeying the desire of the flesh. I'm not condemning anyone, but I'm just telling the truth of what the Bible says."

This article includes content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click 'Allow and continue'.

Later, though, he added an apology, saying: "I'm sorry for hurting people by comparing homosexuals to animals. Please forgive me for those I've hurt. I still stand on my belief that I'm against same sex marriage because of what the Bible says, but I'm not condemning LGBT. I love you all with the love of the Lord. God bless you all and I'm praying for you."

In January Tyson Fury was reminded of his "heavy responsibilities" by the British Boxing Board of Control for his controversial remarks about homosexuality.

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Manny Pacquiao provokes storm by calling gay people 'worse than animals'

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Boxer Manny Pacquiao has provoked a storm in his home country after saying people in same-sex relationships 'are worse than animals'

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Student Support Services | Current Students

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The Student Support Advisor is available to help you with a wide range of issues including personal and emotional problems, money matters, childcare, housing and benefits advice. The Student Support Advisor provides a friendly and confidential service where you are able to talk over your problems in private, and can refer you on to specialist agencies if required.

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https://www.bradfordcollege.ac.uk/student-services/student-support/learning-support

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This shows every class of people can be a bully/discriminate because of disabilities. 

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This shows every class of people can be a bully/discriminate because of disabilities. 

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Last year Trump mocked a reporter by twitching and flailing his arms

That reporter has a congenital disability that affects his arm movement

Trump denied he was making fun of the reporter's disability

Videos of other Trump speeches show similar 'impressions' of others

Ted Cruz, a bank president and a general all received similar treatment

Donald Trump was accused in November last year of mocking a disabled reporter - but videos of his other speeches suggest that he performs the same impression for whoever he mocks.

Trump mocked New York Times journalist Serge F Kovaleskiat a South Carolina rally by making twitching arm and face movements - which the disabled reporter took as a personal slight.

But pro-Trump website Catholics 4 Trump says that the Republican candidate has a long history of making similar gestures while mocking other people.

Scroll down for video

In the South Carolina rally, Trump mocked Kovaleski for what he saw as the reporter stepping away from an article he wrote on the 9/11 attacks in The Washington Post.

'Now the poor guy, you ought to see this guy,' Trump said, drawing his wrists up close to his chest and flailing around. '"Ah, I don't know what I said! I don't remember!"'

Kovaleski has arthrogryposis, a congenital condition that has locked his right arm up against his chest in a similar position to the one Trump held.

He said Trump was mocking his disability; Trump denied knowing who Kovaleski was.

The reporter then said he was on first-name terms with Trump and had interviewed him around a dozen times over the past 30 years.

But videos from 2016, 2015 and 2005 and featured on Catholics 4 Trump, show Trump doing similar - albeit shorter and less involved - impressions on several other occasions.

A video from October 2015 has Trump talking about banking regulators.

'When you see the president of the bank, I mention the word regulator-' he breaks off to perform the role of the bank president, hunching his shoulders and limply shaking his wrist and head.

Another clip, taken at the same rally Trump mocked Kovaleski, has Trump complaining about a general being asked about ISIS.

He performs similar - though more restrained - movements, waving his arms and shaking his head.

And in a clip from February this year, Trump mocks Ted Cruz for being a poor public speaker, again hunching his shoulders and shaking his arms.

The site also hosted an even earlier clip, from a 2005 Larry King interview, in which Trump pulls another limp-wristed posture while imagining how happy he would be to go on a two-week vacation.

Trump's remarks about Kovaleski came as he defended his debunked claim that he saw 'thousands' of Muslims in New Jersey celebrating the destruction of the World Trade Center on 9/11.

The candidate said this was 'well covered' in the media at the time, although no footage of such parties ever turned up.

In defense, Trump pointed to Kovaleski's Washington Post article from September 18, 2001, in which the reporter said: 'law enforcement authorities detained and questioned a number of people who were allegedly seen celebrating the attacks and holding tailgate-style parties on rooftops while they watched the devastation on the other side of the river.'

Kovaleski later said: 'I certainly do not remember anyone saying that thousands or even hundreds of people were celebrating. That was not the case, as best as I can remember.'

It was that remark that Trump mocked in his South Carolina speech.

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Did Trump mock disabled man or was it a limited range of impressions?

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Last year Trump mocked a reporter by twitching and flailing his arms That reporter has a congenital disability that affects his arm movement Trump denied he was making fun of the reporter's disability Videos of other Trump speeches show similar 'impressions' of others Ted Cruz, a bank president and a general all received similar treatment Donald Trump was accused in November last year of mocking a disabled reporter - but videos of his other speeches suggest that he performs the same impression for whoever he mocks.

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Bullying in schools                                                                                    

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Bullying in schools                                                                                    

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This website shows how bullying occurs and what is done about it etc

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NoBullying - Bullying & CyberBullying Resources

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School bullying has long been a problem in schools. As far back as schools go, there have always been children who have found pleasure in making life miserable for other students. However, it seems that over the years, bullying has become an even more severe problem. With the increased use of the Internet, as well as the greater reach of the media, it is becoming more evident that school bullying statistics still offer shocking information. What society in general and schools in particular do with this information will dictate whether these statistics continue to rise or there is a decline in the presence of bullying in schools. Learn more on Bullying in Schools Statistics Now!
Bullying in Schools Statistics: How Does Bullying in Schools Occur?

Before looking at the school bullying statistics, it is critical to look at what constitutes bullying. In general, bullying is any behavior that is meant to demean or hurt another student. Today, this behavior can take on many forms and cover a variety of methods of delivery. In the past, bullying typically only took place out on the playground. Today, it also takes place in school hallways, in the streets outside of school hours and even online. In fact, cyberbullying has become a bigger problem in recent years because it is harder to control online sites and children, especially teens, feel they can hide behind their computer and get away with the bullying behavior.

Bullying in Schools Statistics: How Many Students Are Affected?

One of the most important statistics to know is how many children are impacted by bullying on a regular basis. While the various studies show different numbers of students who claim to have been the victim of bullying, the general consensus is that about one quarter of students are victimized by bullies at school. Of those children who are victimized, about 77 percent of them are bullied verbally and physically, while about 43 percent have been bullied online. The number of children who are cyberbullied has been on the rise with the increased use of social media, online role playing games and other websites.

Bullying in Schools Statistics: Differing Lifestyles

One of the biggest problems in the bullying world is those children who are different. Today, one of the hot button issues that can lead to bullying is those children who are gay or those that don't quite fit into the typical gender stereotypes. As many as 85 percent of students who identify as being homosexual or bisexual have been called names or otherwise verbally bullied for their lifestyle. Likewise 64 percent of those students were bullied for the way they presented themselves, particularly if they didn't present themselves as the socially acceptable manner for their gender. For instance, boys who weren't "manly" or girls who were not "feminine." Up to 40 percent of these students were physically bullied, enduring pushing, shoving and sometimes worse.

Bullying in Schools Statistics: The Negative Impact

Understanding the school bullying statistics that reflect the negative impact bullying can have on the school environment can underscore the importance of controlling this bullying behavior in the schools, particularly for the safety of everyone in the school. According to recent studies, it has been determined that children ages 12 to 17 feel violence has gotten worse in schools as a result of bullying in the schools. In fact, they feel the violence in schools often motivated by a feeling of revenge for the way other students have treated that particular child. Eighty-seven percent of students think school shootings are meant to get back at someone for bullying them. Likewise, 86 percent felt picking on other kids is a direct cause of lethal violence, even if it isn't a shooting.

The statistics that surround this violence at school and the other negative effects of bullying in schools is staggering. Up to 160,000 children stay home from school every day because they are afraid they will be bullied at school. As many as 100,000 children have carried a gun to school, though many of them have not used it. This can lead to some serious issues. With all the school shootings in schools today, it is critical to take a close look at bullying and its impact on the safety of all students. When bullying is curbed, the violence should decrease as well.

Bullying in Schools Statistics: Intervention

One of the most difficult aspects of bullying is the intervention that does or does not take place. In as many as 85 percent of bullying cases that are recorded, no intervention takes place at all, which can lead to more problems in the future. If there is no intervention, the bullies are more likely to continue in their behavior. Of the 15 percent of cases in which intervention was used, 11 percent of the intervention was done by peers, while only four percent was completed by adults. The intervention statistics indicate there is a serious problem. While some of these cases aren't dealt with because the victim doesn't report it, there are many cases where the bullying simply goes ignored. This is the statistic that most needs to change if there is any hope of reducing the amount of bullying that takes place in schools today and in the future.

School Bullying Statistics: State Bullying Laws

As of 2012, 49 states have implemented bullying laws, though the laws and how they are handled varies widely by state. For instance, the states each list who is covered under the laws individually, such as race, age, sex, color, etc. However, some of the states mention all the possibilities, while others leave some of the major triggers out of their list, including color. This can provide unclear protections that make it difficult to enforce the rules. This will not make many positive changes in the school bullying statistics. In many cases, the actual bullying policies are left up to individual schools, making bullying even more difficult to implement and enforce.

The school bullying statistics and Bullying in Schools Statistics are constantly changing, often growing worse instead of better, especially in the area of cyberbullying. While there are currently a low number of victims who are reporting the behavior, as well as minimal interventions in many cases, the hope is to educate parents, children, educators and legislators on the dangers of bullying in schools. When more action is taken and more people are willing to stand up for the cause, the instances of bullying and the subsequent negative consequences will reduce, making school a safer environment, both emotionally and physically.

Spread the word on School Bullying Statistics and Bullying in Schools Statistics and help raise awareness about the problems of school bullying. Lets eliminate bullying in schools today with the help of the most recent Bullying in Schools Statistics!

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Bullying in Schools Statistics - NoBullying - Bullying & CyberBullying Resources

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School bullying has long been a problem in schools. As far back as schools go, there have always been children who have found pleasure in making life miserable for other students. However, it seems that over the years, bullying has become an even more severe problem.

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How Half of all Teens are bullied because of their appearance 

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How Half of all Teens are bullied because of their appearance 

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(Photo: John Gladwin)

ALMOST half of all teenagers are bullied at school over their looks - with girls targeted the most.

A quarter of girls at secondary school are picked on for being too pretty, not pretty enough or just because their face does not fit, a study found.

Almost a fifth are taunted because of their weight and one in 10 suffer jibes because of acne or how they dress.

According to BeatBullying, boys suffer the same cruelty but in fewer numbers.

And one in three teens who knew a bully victim were unsure how to help.

It discovered eight out of ten teenagers fret about their looks, with spots and weight their other two big concerns.

And amazingly its survey found almost a third of hurtful words are from the victims' own friends - with more girls than boys picked on by their pals.

As children prepare to go back to school tomorrow, experts fear bullying could result in victims crash dieting.

According to the survey of 2,000 12-18-year-olds, more than a third of teenage girls admitted they have been on a diet with one in ten 12-14-year-olds on a permanent bid to shed pounds.

Catherine Collins, principle dietitian at St George's Hospital in London, said: "As a mum to a teenage son and a 20-year-old daughter, I know first-hand that young people are incredibly image conscious - with girls being much harsher self-critics than boys.

"It's sad to see that these concerns are potentially being exacerbated by image-related bullying. If teenagers choose to diet, it's important we help them make the right decisions.

"For example, regular meals, sensible snacking, getting enough calcium and being wary of high sugar fizzy drinks are all sensible tips."

Anthony Smythe, BeatBullying director, said: "Bullying has a devastating impact on the lives of hundreds of thousands young people in this country.

"Too many teenagers live in fear, isolated with only negative thoughts for company.

"It is critical that young people know that they are not alone and that there is support out there for them.

For any young person experiencing bullying right now, we urge them to visit BeatBullying.org to talk to someone now."

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Half of all teenagers bullied at school over their looks

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ALMOST half of all teenagers are bullied at school over their looks - with girls targeted the most. A quarter of girls at secondary school are picked on for being too pretty, not pretty enough or just because their face does not fit, a study found.

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Bullying Statistics in the UK - The Annual Bullying Survey 2016

Welcome to The Annual Bullying Survey 2016, the fourth and largest edition of our yearly benchmark of bullying in the United Kingdom. We surveyed 8,850 young people aged 12-20 in partnership with schools and colleges from across the country. Our free report has thousands of the latest bullying statistics and fully explores the reasons why young people bully others. Included in the report is the following:

* Key bullying statistics in the UK
* The motivations of bullying
* Frequency and nature of bullying experienced
* The impact of bullying
* Rates of young people bullying others
* Reasons why young people bully others
* The impact of family dynamics, stress and trauma and relationships on bullying behaviour
* Feedback for schools and colleges
* Recommendations
* Real stories and experiences

The report also comes with tips and advice for schools, colleges, practitioners, parents/guardians and young people.

Key Findings

* 1.5 million young people (50%) have been bullied within the past year.
* 145,800 (19%) of these were bullied EVERY DAY.
* People who have been bullied are almost twice as likely to bully others
* Twice as many boys as girls bully (66% of males vs. 31% females).
* 57% of female respondents have been bullied, 44% of male respondents and 59% of respondents who identified as trans have been bullied.
* 24% of those who have been bullied go on to bully.
* Based on their own definition 14% of young people admit to bullying somebody, 12% say they bully people daily.
* Twice as many boys as girls bully (66% of males vs. 31% females).
* 20% of all young people have physically attacked somebody.
* 44% of young people who have been bullied experience depression.
* 41% of young people who have been bullied experience social anxiety.
* 33% of those being bullied have suicidal thoughts.

The Report - Bullying Statistics 2016

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UK Bullying Statistics 2016 - Ditch the Label

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Welcome to The Annual Bullying Survey 2016, the fourth and largest edition of our yearly benchmark of bullying in the United Kingdom. We surveyed 8,850 young people aged 12-20 in partnership with schools and colleges from across the country. Our free report has thousands of the latest bullying statistics and fully explores the reasons why young people bully others.

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http://www.stamford.ac.uk/student-life/student-support-services/

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This is about discrimination in schools.

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If you're treated unfairly by an education provider like a school, college or a university and it's because of who you are, it may be unlawful discrimination. If you've experienced unlawful discrimination, you may be able to do something about it.

Read this page to find out more about unlawful discrimination in education.

Top Tips

If you want to know if unlawful discrimination has taken place you need to check:

who's treating you unfairly

why you're being treated unfairly

what's the unfair treatment

how is the treatment unfair, or what type of discrimination it is.

Identifying discrimination in education

The law which says you mustn't be discriminated against is called the Equality Act 2010. Discrimination which is against the Equality Act is unlawful. This means you can take action in the civil courts.

You can follow these steps to check whether unlawful discrimination has taken place:

why you are being treated unfairly - unfair treatment only counts as unlawful discrimination if it's for certain reasons

who is treating you unfairly - unfair treatment only counts as unlawful discrimination if it's carried out by certain people

what's the unfair treatment you've experienced - only certain types of behaviour count as unlawful discrimination

how is the treatment unfair - there are different types of unlawful discrimination.

Who's treating you unfairly?

The following education providers mustn't discriminate against you:

schools

further education institutions like colleges

higher education institutions like universities

teachers or staff employed by the school, college or university.

You have the right not be discriminated against if:

you're a pupil or a student

you're applying to become a pupil or student

you're a former pupil or student.

Schools

The Equality Act applies to all schools, it doesn't matter if the school is publicly funded or if it's a private school. This includes:

schools maintained by a local authority

other state funded schools

special schools not maintained by a local authority

independent or private schools

pupil referral units.

Why are you being treated unfairly?

It's only unlawful discrimination under the Equality Act if an education provider treats you unfairly because of:

disability

gender reassignment

pregnancy or maternity

race

religion or belief

sex

sexual orientation

The Equality Act calls these things protected characteristics.

What about age?

It's not unlawful for schools to discriminate against you because of your age. Colleges and universities mustn't discriminate against you because of your age but only if you're 18 or over.

What's the unfair treatment?

The Equality Act says education providers mustn't discriminate against you in relation to the following things:

admissions

the provision of education

school policies and procedures relating to - for example, discipline, exams and school uniforms

access to benefits, facilities or services, including school meals, sports and other activities, schools trips, libraries and IT facilities, careers services and information

exclusions

any other detriment.

What about the curriculum?

The curriculum isn't covered by the Equality Act. This means you can't take action against an education provider if they teach something which offends you because of your protected characteristic. For example, it wouldn't be unlawful religion or belief discrimination for a school to teach about evolution if you believe in creationism.

Local authorities and schools have a duty to publish and implement plans to improve the accessibility of the curriculum and the physical environment of schools for the benefit of disabled pupils.

How is the treatment unfair?

There are different types of unlawful discrimination. It may be unlawful discrimination if an education provider:

treats you differently and worse than others because of who you are or because of who they think you are - this is called direct discrimination

treats you differently and worse because someone you are connected to has a protected characteristic, such as a disabled relative - this is called direct discrimination by association

applies a policy, rule or way of doing things that puts you and other people like you at a disadvantage compared with others - this is called indirect discrimination

treats you badly because of something connected to your disability - this is called discrimination arising from disability

fails to remove barriers if you're disabled - this is called the duty to make reasonable adjustments

treats you in a way that is offensive, frightening, degrading, humiliating or distressing - this is called harassment

treats you badly because you complained about discrimination or because they think you complained about discrimination - this is called victimisation.

If you're harassed

If you're harassed, the following protected characteristics are not covered by the Equality Act in relation to education providers:

gender reassignment

religion or belief

sexual orientation.

This means if you're harassed by an education provider because of one of these characteristics you wouldn't be able to complain about unlawful harassment. But you might be able to complain about direct discrimination if you can show you've been treated worse than someone else.

Situations when schools are allowed to discriminate against you

There are exceptions in the Equality Act when schools are allowed to discriminate against you.

For example, it's not religion or belief discrimination:

for a school to carry out collective worship of a particular religion, or

for a school with a religious character to discriminate against pupils in relation to admission, the provision of education and access to a benefit, facility or service on the grounds of religion or belief.

Single sex schools are also allowed to discriminate against pupils because of their sex in relation to admission to the school.

Examples of discrimination in education

Here are examples of unlawful discrimination in education:

a school refuses to admit a pupil with a facial disfigurement because of concerns that she may upset other pupils - this would be direct discrimination because of disability

a school reduces the number of GCSEs a pregnant pupil is studying for, when the pupil has clearly stated she wants to continue with all her GCSEs - this could be pregnancy and maternity discrimination

a university requires applicants from the UK to have three A levels but requires overseas applicants to have four A levels - this could be indirect race discrimination.

Next steps

Other useful information

Equality Advisory Support Service (EASS)

If you have experienced discrimination, you can get help from the EASS discrimination helpline.

Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)

You can find useful information about discrimination on the EHRC website at

To read the EHRC guidance for schools go to

To read the EHRC guidance for further education and higher education providers go to

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If you're treated unfairly by an education provider like a school, college or a university and it's because of who you are, it may be unlawful discrimination. If you've experienced unlawful discrimination, you may be able to do something about it. Read this page to find out more about unlawful discrimination in education.

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The support they offer in the school.

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King's College London - Student Services

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How we can help supporting students throughout their student journey at King's

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This is a good site as it shows statistics for counselling due to bullying and involves gay people

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Explanation: Findings from an online survey of 3,713 LGBT young people aged 11-19 in Britain. The survey, which took place between November 2016 and February 2017, found that 45% of LGBT pupils were bullied for being lesbian, gay, bisexual or trans.

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Explanation: Findings from an online survey of 3,713 LGBT young people aged 11-19 in Britain. The survey, which took place between November 2016 and February 2017, found that 45% of LGBT pupils were bullied for being lesbian, gay, bisexual or trans.

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These are some facts about bullying. This is quite helpful for us as it can show us why things happen etc. Our FMP is focusing on how being are discriminated against so these facts could be used within our project

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It's a harmful behavior that impacts 1 in 5 students in the US.

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This is about a women who was going to be dismissed because she was the primary career of her daughter and had to go through courts to not be dismissed.

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A woman who lost her job at a Belfast advice centre has been awarded £18,886 in damages, after being discriminated against.

A tribunal found Maria McKeith's dismissal from the Ardoyne Association was linked to her role as primary carer for her disabled daughter.

This was contrary to the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, it said.

Ms McKeith worked part-time for the association from 2010 until she was dismissed in March 2015.

The tribunal said she had been unfairly dismissed and that the Ardoyne Association "did not put forward any convincing or coherent explanation for its decision".

In her managers' minds, "because the claimant had a disabled child, her position was not properly in the workplace. Her daughter was 'her priority'," it ruled.

"That is not the legal position," it said. "People who are disabled themselves, or who are the primary carer of a disabled person, have a right to work within the protection afforded by the 1995 Act."

The finding was appealed by the Ardoyne Association but the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal.

Maria McKeith said she was left in shock when she was made redundant.

"I did not ask for any special treatment and I did not welcome it," she said.

"I enjoyed coming to work, meeting people and being able to advise and help them and I knew my daughter was being cared for while I was at work.

The tribunal awarded her £10,000 for injury to feelings, £6,760 for loss of earnings, and a total of £2,126 in interest.

Dr Michael Wardlow, Chief Commissioner of the Equality Commission said employers needed to be aware of their responsibilities.

"The Disability Discrimination Act protects people against discrimination because of their disability," he said.

It also protects people in Ms McKeith's position, who have a role as primary carer for a disabled person.

"In this case, Ms McKeith was denied the opportunity to work as a result of her daughter's disability," he said.

"The law makes such discrimination unlawful.

"It is important also, as was referenced in these proceedings, to highlight that the purpose of the law is to assist disabled people and their primary carers to obtain work and to integrate them in to the workplace.

"That is not a matter simply of money, but the dignity of, and the respect due to, the people concerned."

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Mother wins disability discrimination case - BBC News

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A woman who lost her job at a Belfast advice centre has been awarded £18,886 in damages, after being discriminated against. A tribunal found Maria McKeith's dismissal from the Ardoyne Association was linked to her role as primary carer for her disabled daughter. This was contrary to the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, it said.

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This is where the "LGBT" rights are situated or discriminated against death penalty is also there in some unfortunate
countries.

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Worldwide laws regarding same-sex intercourse, unions and expression

Same-sex intercourse illegal. Penalties:

Prison; death not enforced

Prison, with arrests or detention

Same-sex intercourse legal. Recognition of unions:

Extraterritorial marriage ²

Restrictions of expression

Restrictions of association with arrest or detention

Rings indicate local or case-by-case application.
¹ No imprisonment in the past three years or moratorium on law.
² Marriage not available locally. Some jurisdictions may perform other types of partnerships.

LGBT rights at the United Nations

Support

States which supported the LGBT rights declaration in the General Assembly or on the Human Rights Council in 2008 or 2011

Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender ( LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction-encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality.

Laws concerning gender identity-expression by country or territory

Legal identity change, surgery not required

Legal identity change, surgery required

Notably, as of February 2024, 36 countries recognize same-sex marriage. By contrast, not counting non-state actors and extrajudicial killings, only two countries are believed to impose the death penalty on consensual same-sex sexual acts: Iran and Afghanistan. The death penalty is officially law, but generally not practiced, in Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Somalia (in the autonomous state of Jubaland) and the United Arab Emirates. LGBT people also face extrajudicial killings in the Russian region of Chechnya. Sudan rescinded its unenforced death penalty for anal sex (hetero- or homosexual) in 2020. Fifteen countries have stoning on the books as a penalty for adultery, which (in light of the illegality of gay marriage in those countries) would by default include gay sex, but this is enforced by the legal authorities in Iran and Nigeria (in the northern third of the country).

In 2011, the United Nations Human Rights Council passed its first resolution recognizing LGBT rights, following which the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a report documenting violations of the rights of LGBT people, including hate crimes, criminalization of homosexual activity, and discrimination. Following the issuance of the report, the United Nations urged all countries which had not yet done so to enact laws protecting basic LGBT rights. A 2022 study found that LGBT rights (as measured by ILGA-Europe's Rainbow Index) were correlated with less HIV/AIDS incidence among gay and bisexual men independently of risky sexual behavior.

The 2023 Equaldex Equality Index ranks the Nordic countries, Chile, Uruguay, Canada, the Benelux countries, Spain, Andorra, and Malta among the best for LGBT rights. The index ranks Nigeria, Yemen, Brunei, Afghanistan, Somalia, Mauritania, Palestine, and Iran among the worst.[better source needed ] Asher & Lyric ranked Canada, Sweden, and the Netherlands as the three safest nations for LGBT people in its 2023 index.

Scope of laws

Laws that affect LGBT people include, but are not limited to, the following:

laws concerning the recognition of same-sex relationships, including same-sex marriage, civil unions, and domestic partnerships

laws concerning LGBT parenting, including adoption by LGBT people

anti-discrimination laws in employment, housing, education, public accommodations

anti-bullying legislation to protect LGBT children at school

hate crime laws imposing enhanced criminal penalties for prejudice-motivated violence against LGBT people

bathroom bills affecting access to sex-segregated facilities by transgender people

laws related to sexual orientation and military service

laws concerning access to assisted reproductive technology

sodomy laws that penalize consensual same-sex sexual activity. These may or may not target homosexuals, males or males and females, or leave some homosexual acts legal.

adultery laws that same-sex couples are subject to

age of consent laws that may impose higher ages for same-sex sexual activity

laws regarding donation of blood, corneas, and other tissues by men who have sex with men

laws concerning access to gender-affirming surgery and hormone replacement therapy

legal recognition and accommodation of the affirmed gender.

History of LGBT-related laws

Ancient India

Ayoni or non-vaginal sex of all types is punishable in the Arthashastra. Homosexual acts are, however, treated as a smaller offence punishable by a fine, while unlawful heterosexual sex carries much harsher punishment. The Dharmsastras, especially the later ones, prescribe against non-vaginal sex like the Vashistha Dharmasutra. The Yājñavalkya Smṛti prescribes fines for such acts including those with other men. Manusmriti prescribes light punishments for such acts. Vanita states that the verses about punishment for a sex between female and a maiden is due to its strong emphasis on a maiden's sexual purity.

Ancient Israel

The ancient Law of Moses (the Torah) forbids men from lying with men (i.e., from having intercourse) in Leviticus 18 and gives a story of attempted homosexual rape in Genesis 19, in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, after which the cities were soon destroyed with "brimstone and fire, from the Lord" and the death penalty was prescribed to its inhabitants - and to Lot's wife, who was turned into a pillar of salt because she turned back to watch the cities' destruction. In Deuteronomy 22:5, cross-dressing is condemned as "abominable".

In Assyrian society, sex crimes were punished identically whether they were homosexual or heterosexual. An individual faced no punishment for penetrating someone of equal social class, a cult prostitute, or with someone whose gender roles were not considered solidly masculine. Such sexual relations were even seen as good fortune, with an Akkadian tablet, the , reading, "If a man copulates with his equal from the rear, he becomes the leader among his peers and brothers". However, homosexual relationships with fellow soldiers, slaves, royal attendants, or those where a social better was submissive or penetrated, were treated as bad omens.

Middle Assyrian Law Codes dating 1075 BC has a particularly harsh law for homosexuality in the military, which reads: "If a man have intercourse with his brother-in-arms, they shall turn him into a eunuch." A similar law code reads, "If a seignior lay with his neighbor, when they have prosecuted him (and) convicted him, they shall lie with him (and) turn him into a eunuch". This law code condemns a situation that involves homosexual rape. Any Assyrian male could visit a prostitute or lie with another male, just as long as false rumors or forced sex were not involved with another male.

Ancient Rome

In ancient Rome, the bodies of citizen youths were strictly off-limits, and the Lex Scantinia imposed penalties on those who committed a sex crime against a freeborn male minor. Acceptable same-sex partners were males excluded from legal protections as citizens: slaves, male prostitutes, and the , entertainers or others who might be technically free but whose lifestyles set them outside the law.

A male citizen who willingly performed oral sex or received anal sex was disparaged, but there is only limited evidence of legal penalties against these men. In courtroom and political rhetoric, charges of effeminacy and passive sexual behaviors were directed particularly at "democratic" politicians such as Julius Caesar and Mark Antony.

Roman law addressed the rape of a male citizen as early as the 2nd century BC when it was ruled that even a man who was "disreputable and questionable" had the same right as other citizens not to have his body subjected to forced sex. A law probably dating to the dictatorship of Julius Caesar defined rape as forced sex against "boy, woman, or anyone"; the rapist was subject to execution, a rare penalty in Roman law. A male classified as infamis, such as a prostitute or actor, could not as a matter of law be raped, nor could a slave, who was legally classified as property; the slave's owner, however, could prosecute the rapist for property damage.

In the Roman army of the Republic, sex among fellow soldiers violated the decorum against intercourse with citizens and was subject to harsh penalties, including death, as a violation of military discipline. The Greek historian Polybius (2nd century BC) lists deserters, thieves, perjurers, and "those who in youth have abused their persons" as subject to the fustuarium, clubbing to death. Ancient sources are most concerned with the effects of sexual harassment by officers, but the young soldier who brought an accusation against his superior needed to show that he had not willingly taken the passive role or prostituted himself. Soldiers were free to have relations with their male slaves; the use of a fellow citizen-soldier's body was prohibited, not homosexual behaviors per se. By the late Republic and throughout the Imperial period, there is increasing evidence that men whose lifestyle marked them as "homosexual" in the modern sense served openly.

Although Roman law did not recognize marriage between men, and in general Romans regarded marriage as a heterosexual union with the primary purpose of producing children, in the early Imperial period some male couples were celebrating traditional marriage rites. Juvenal remarks with disapproval that his friends often attended such ceremonies. The emperor Nero had two marriages to men, once as the bride (with a freedman Pythagoras) and once as the groom. His consort Sporus appeared in public as Nero's wife wearing the regalia that was customary for the Roman empress.

Apart from measures to protect the prerogatives of citizens, the prosecution of homosexuality as a general crime began in the 3rd century of the Christian era when male prostitution was banned by Philip the Arab. By the end of the 4th century, after the Roman Empire had come under Christian rule, passive homosexuality was punishable by burning. "Death by sword" was the punishment for a "man coupling like a woman" under the Theodosian Code. Under Justinian, all same-sex acts, passive or active, no matter who the partners are, were declared contrary to nature and punishable by death.

British Empire

The United Kingdom introduced anti-homosexuality laws throughout its colonies, particularly in the 19th century when the British Empire was at its peak. As of 2018, more than half of the 71 countries that criminalised homosexuality were former British colonies or protectorates.

Netherlands

In 2001, the Netherlands was the first country in the world to legalize gay marriage.

Global LGBT rights maps

Note that for simplicity the table below does not distinguish between 'legal' and 'lawful'. An action can only be legal or illegal where a specific law has been passed.

Laws regarding same-sex sexuality by country or territory

Worldwide laws regarding same-sex intercourse, unions and expression

Same-sex intercourse illegal. Penalties:

Prison; death not enforced

Prison, with arrests or detention

Same-sex intercourse legal. Recognition of unions:

Extraterritorial marriage ²

Restrictions of expression

Restrictions of association with arrest or detention

Rings indicate local or case-by-case application.
¹ No imprisonment in the past three years or moratorium on law.
² Marriage not available locally. Some jurisdictions may perform other types of partnerships.

Decriminalization of same-sex sexual intercourse by country or territory

Legal status on conversion therapy for minors on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity by country or territory

Ban on conversion therapy on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity

De facto ban on conversion therapy

Proposed ban on conversion therapy

No ban on conversion therapy

Countries/Territories/States

Note that while this template lists several historical countries, such as the Kingdom of France, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, etc., for the sake of clarity, the flags shown are contemporary flags.

LGBT-related laws by country or territory

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LGBT rights by country or territory - Wikipedia

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Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender ( LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction-encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Notably, as of February 2024, 36 countries recognize same-sex marriage.

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Safe guarding team

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This is what harlow college does to help equality and diversity

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Laws around discrimination and questions frequently asked. 

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Laws around discrimination and questions frequently asked. 

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This is a PDF file on the laws around discrimination in the workplace, It also answers questions about discrimination and gives information around the topic.

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This is an article about the Orlando shooting - This is part of our idea since it was something that happened in 2016 and is relevant because they targeted the gay community/nightclub so they were "discriminated" against.

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On June 12, 2016, Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old man, killed 49 people and wounded 53 more in a mass shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, United States. Orlando Police officers shot and killed him after a three-hour standoff.

In a 9-1-1 call made shortly after the shooting began, Mateen swore allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and said the U.S. killing of Abu Waheeb in Iraq the previous month "triggered" the shooting. He later told a negotiator he was "out here right now" because of the American-led interventions in Iraq and in Syria and that the negotiator should tell the United States to stop the bombing. The incident was deemed a terrorist attack by FBI investigators.

Pulse was hosting a "Latin Night", and most of the victims were Latino. It is the deadliest incident in the history of violence against LGBT people in the United States, surpassing the UpStairs Lounge arson attack in 1973, the deadliest terrorist attack in the United States since the September 11 attacks, and is second only to the 2017 Las Vegas shooting as the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.

On June 11, 2016, Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, was hosting "Latin Night", a weekly Saturday night event drawing a primarily Latino crowd. RuPaul's Drag Race contestant and drag queen Kenya Michaels is recorded to have been performing right as the shooting began (Michaels survived the shooting). About 320 people were still inside the club, which was serving last call drinks at around 2:00 a.m. EDT on June 12. At around the same time, Omar Mateen arrived at the club via rental van, parking it in the parking lot of a neighboring car shop. He got out and walked toward the building armed with a SIG Sauer MCX semi-automatic rifle and a 9mm Glock 17 semi-automatic pistol. He was wearing a green, blue, and white plaid dress shirt, a white T-shirt underneath, and tan cargo pants. At 2:02 a.m., Mateen bypassed Officer Adam Gruler, a uniformed off-duty Orlando Police Department (OPD) officer working extra duty as a security guard, entered the building through its southern entrance, and began shooting patrons. Dozens were killed or severely injured inside the crowded nightclub, either directly or by ricochets.

Gruler took cover and called in a signal for assistance. He told a post-incident Police Foundation assessment team that he had immediately recognized that his handgun would be severely disadvantaged against the rifle Mateen was using. When he witnessed Mateen shooting two patrons attempting to escape through an emergency exit, Gruler fired shots at him. In response, Mateen withdrew back into the nightclub and continued shooting victims as he traversed through the building, sometimes firing into bodies without checking whether they were already dead. When additional officers arrived at the nightclub beginning at 2:04 a.m., Gruler shouted "[The gunman]'s in the patio!" and resumed firing at Mateen a minute later. Two officers joined Gruler in engaging Mateen, who then retreated farther into the nightclub and "began a 'hostage situation'" in one of the bathrooms. In less than five minutes, Mateen had fired approximately 200 rounds, pausing only to reload.

During the shooting, some of the people trapped inside the club sought help by calling or sending text messages to friends and relatives. Initially, some of them thought the gunshots were firecrackers or part of the music. Imran Yousuf, a recently discharged Marine Corps veteran working as a nightclub bouncer immediately recognized the sounds as gunfire, which he described as "high caliber", and jumped over a locked door behind which dozens of people were hidden and paralyzed by fear, then opened a latched door behind them, allowing approximately 70 people to escape. Many described a scene of panic and confusion caused by the loud music and darkness. One person shielded herself by hiding inside a bathroom and covering herself with bodies. A bartender said she took cover beneath the glass bar. At least one patron tried to help those who were hit. According to a man trapped inside a bathroom with fifteen other patrons, Mateen fired sixteen times into the bathroom, through the closed door, killing at least two and wounding several others.

According to one of the hostages, Mateen entered a bathroom in the nightclub's northwest side and opened fire on the people hiding there, wounding several. The hostage, who had taken cover inside a stall with others, was injured by two bullets and struck with flying pieces of a wall hit by stray bullets. Shortly after entering the women's restroom, Mateen's rifle jammed. He then discarded the rifle and switched to his Glock 17 pistol. Two survivors quoted Mateen as saying, "I don't have a problem with black people", and that he "wouldn't stop his assault until America stopped bombing his country". Other survivors heard Mateen claim he had explosives as well as snipers stationed around the club.

Patrons trapped inside called or texted 9-1-1 to warn of the possible presence of explosives.

In the next 45 minutes, about 100 officers from the OPD and the Orange County Sheriff's Office were dispatched to the scene. Among the earliest first responders to arrive were a firefighter crew from Fire Station 5 and two supporting firefighter paramedics from Fire Station 7. Eighty fire and emergency medical services personnel from the Orlando Fire Department were deployed during the entire incident.

At 2:09 a.m., several minutes after the gunfire began, the club posted on its Facebook page, "Everyone get out of pulse [] and keep running." At 2:22 a.m., Mateen placed a 9-1-1 call, during which he mentioned the Boston Marathon bombers- Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev-as his "homeboys" and made a reference to Moner Mohammad Abu Salha, an American citizen who died in a suicide bombing in Syria in 2014. Mateen said he was inspired by Abu Salha's death for the Al-Nusra Front targeting Syrian government troops (a mutual enemy of the two Salafist groups, despite their history of violence with each other), and swore allegiance to ISIS leader al-Baghdadi. The FBI said that Mateen and Abu Salha had attended the same mosque and knew each other "casually". Mateen made two other 9-1-1 calls during the shooting. Numerous 9-1-1 calls were made by the patrons inside the nightclub around this time.

After the initial rounds of gunfire between Mateen and Gruler, six officers shot out a large glass window and followed the sound of shooting to the bathroom area. When Mateen stuck his head out from one of the bathrooms, at least two officers shot at him. After the gunfire stopped, they were ordered to hold position instead of storming the bathroom, according to one of the officers. After about 15 to 20 minutes, SWAT arrived and had the officers withdraw as the officers were "not really in tactical gear". SWAT then took over the operation. When asked why the officers didn't proceed to the bathroom and engage Mateen, Orlando Police Chief John Mina said it was because Mateen "went from an active shooter to a barricaded gunman" and had hostages. He also noted, "If he had continued shooting, our officers would have went in there." At that time, the last shot by Mateen was fired between 2:10 a.m. and 2:18 a.m.

Rescues of people trapped inside the nightclub commenced and continued throughout the night. Because so many people were lying on the dance floor, one rescuing officer demanded, "If you're alive, raise your hand." By 2:35 a.m., police had managed to extract nearly all of the injured from the nightclub. Those who remained included the hostages held by Mateen in the bathroom, as well as a dozen people who were hiding inside dressing rooms.

At 2:45 a.m., Mateen called News 13 of Orlando and said, "I'm the shooter. It's me. I am the shooter." He then said he was carrying out the shooting on the behalf of ISIS and began speaking rapidly in Arabic. Mateen also said the shooting was "triggered" by a U.S.-led bombing strike in Iraq that killed Abu Wahib, an ISIS military commander, on May 6.

A crisis negotiator was present as Mateen was held up inside and holding hostages. Officers initially believed he was armed with a "suspicious device" that posed a threat, but it was later revealed to be a battery that fell out of an exit sign or smoke detector.

Police hostage negotiators spoke with Mateen by telephone three times between 2:48 a.m. and 3:27 a.m. He claimed during one of the calls that he had bombs strapped to his body. He also claimed that he "had a vehicle in the parking lot with enough explosives to take out city blocks." At 3:58 a.m., the OPD publicly announced the shooting and confirmed multiple injuries. At 4:21 a.m., eight of the hostages escaped after police had removed an air conditioning unit from an exterior wall. At approximately 4:29 a.m., Mateen told negotiators that he planned to strap explosive vests, similar to those used in the November 2015 Paris attacks, to four hostages, strategically place them in different corners of the building, and detonate them in 15 minutes. OPD officers then decided to end negotiations and prepared to blow their way in.

At around 2:30 a.m., Mateen's wife-after receiving a call from her mother at approximately 2:00 a.m. asking where her husband was-sent a text message to Mateen asking where he was. Mateen texted back asking her if she had seen the news. After she replied, "No?", Mateen responded, "I love you, babe." According to one source, she texted him back at one point saying that she loved him. She also called him several times during the standoff, but he did not answer. She found out about what was happening at 4:00 a.m. after the police told her to come out of her house with her hands up.

A survivor of the shooting recalled Mateen saying he wanted the United States to "stop bombing his country". The FBI said Mateen "told a negotiator to tell America to stop bombing Syria and Iraq and that was why he was 'out here right now'". During the siege, Mateen made Internet searches on the shooting, while police dispatched a tactical robot to discreetly enter the restroom and allow them to communicate with hostages via two-way audio.

The FBI reported that no shots were heard between the time Mateen stopped exchanging gunfire with the first responders and 5:02 a.m., when Orlando police began breaching the building's wall. Just before the breach, Mateen entered a women's bathroom where the hostages were hiding and opened fire, killing a man who sacrificed his life to save the woman behind him and at least one other, according to witnesses.

At 5:07 a.m., fourteen SWAT officers-after failing to blow open a big enough hole in the bathroom's exterior wall using a bomb due to the wall's structure-successfully breached the building when a policeman drove a BearCat armored vehicle through a wall in the northern bathroom. They then used two flashbangs to distract Mateen, and shot at him. The breach drew Mateen out into the hallway, and at 5:14 a.m., he engaged the officers. He was shot eight times and killed in the resulting shootout, which involved at least eleven officers who fired about 150 bullets. He was reported "down" at 5:17 a.m.

At 5:05 a.m., the police said a bomb squad had set off a controlled explosion. At 5:53 a.m., the Orlando police posted on Twitter, "Pulse Shooting: The shooter inside the club is dead." Thirty hostages were freed during the police operation. The survivors were searched by police for guns and explosives.

Casualties

Fifty people died in the incident, including Mateen, and another 58 were injured, 53 by gunfire and five by other causes. Some survivors were critically injured.

Thirty-nine, including Mateen, were pronounced dead at the scene, and eleven at local hospitals. Of the thirty-eight victims to die at the scene, twenty died on the stage area and dance floor, nine in the nightclub's northern bathroom, four in the southern bathroom, three on the stage, one at the front lobby, and one out on a patio. At least five of the dead were not killed during the initial volley of gunfire by Mateen, but during the hostage situation in the bathroom.

Pulse was hosting Latin Night; over 90% of the victims were of Hispanic background, and half of those were of Puerto Rican descent. Four Dominicans and three Mexican citizens were also among the dead. An off-duty United States Army Reserve captain at the club who was not in uniform was also killed.

The attack is the second-deadliest mass shooting by a single shooter in United States history, behind the 2017 Las Vegas shooting; prior to the Las Vegas shooting, the Pulse shooting had been the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. It is also the deadliest incident of violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in the history of the United States-surpassing the 1973 UpStairs Lounge arson attack-and the deadliest terrorist attack in the United States since the September 11 attacks in 2001.

The names and ages of the victims killed were confirmed by the City of Orlando after their next of kin had been notified:

Stanley Almodovar III, 23

Amanda Alvear, 25

Oscar A. Aracena-Montero, 26

Rodolfo Ayala-Ayala, 33

Alejandro Barrios Martinez, 21

Martin Benitez Torres, 33

Antonio D. Brown, 30

Darryl R. Burt II, 29

Jonathan A. Camuy Vega, 24

Angel L. Candelario-Padro, 28

Simon A. Carrillo Fernandez, 31

Juan Chavez-Martinez, 25

Luis D. Conde, 39

Cory J. Connell, 21

Tevin E. Crosby, 25

Franky J. Dejesus Velazquez, 50

Deonka D. Drayton, 32

Mercedez M. Flores, 26

Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz, 22

Juan R. Guerrero, 22

Paul T. Henry, 41

Frank Hernandez, 27

Miguel A. Honorato, 30

Javier Jorge-Reyes, 40

Jason B. Josaphat, 19

Eddie J. Justice, 30

Anthony L. Laureano Disla, 25

Christopher A. Leinonen, 32

Brenda L. Marquez McCool, 49

Jean C. Mendez Perez, 35

Akyra Monet Murray, 18

Kimberly Morris, 37

Jean C. Nieves Rodriguez, 27

Luis O. Ocasio-Capo, 20

Geraldo A. Ortiz-Jimenez, 25

Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, 36

Joel Rayon Paniagua, 32

Enrique L. Rios Jr., 25

Juan P. Rivera Velazquez, 37

Yilmary Rodriguez Solivan, 24

Christopher J. Sanfeliz, 24

Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado, 35

Gilberto Ramon Silva Menendez, 25

Edward Sotomayor Jr., 34

Shane E. Tomlinson, 33

Leroy Valentin Fernandez, 25

Luis S. Vielma, 22

Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon, 37

Jerald A. Wright, 31

Autopsies of the 49 dead were completed by the Orange County Medical Examiner's Office by June 14, and their results were released in early August. According to the autopsy reports, many of the victims were shot multiple times in the front or side, and from a short distance. More than a third were shot in the head, and most had multiple bullet wounds and were likely shot more than 3 ft (0.91 m) away. In total, there were over 200 gunshot wounds.

Many of the injured underwent surgery. Most of them-44 people-were taken to the Orlando Regional Medical Center (ORMC), the primary regional trauma center three blocks away; twelve others went to Florida Hospital Orlando. Nine of ORMC's patients died there, and by June 14, 27 remained hospitalized, with six in critical condition. ORMC performed surgeries on 76 patients. The last of the injured was discharged from ORMC on September 6, nearly three months after the shooting.

Three Colombians and two Canadians were among the injured. Additionally, a responding SWAT officer received a minor head injury when a bullet hit his Kevlar helmet.

The gunman was identified as 29-year-old Omar Mateen, an American born in New Hyde Park, New York. His parents were Afghan, and he was raised Muslim. At the time of the shooting, he lived in an apartment complex in Fort Pierce, Florida, 117 mi (188 km) from the Pulse nightclub in Orlando.

Mateen's body was buried in the Muslim Cemetery of South Florida, near Hialeah Gardens.

From October 2006 until April 2007, Mateen trained to be a prison guard for the Florida Department of Corrections. As a probationary employee, he received an "administrative termination (not involving misconduct)" upon a warden's recommendation after Mateen joked about bringing a gun to school. Mateen unsuccessfully pursued a career in law enforcement, failing to become a Florida state trooper in 2011 and to gain admission to a police academy in 2015. According to a police academy classmate, Mateen threatened to shoot his classmates at a cookout in 2007 "after his hamburger touched pork" in violation of Islamic dietary laws. Other witnesses said that they saw Mateen drink alcohol and even "get drunk".

Since 2007, he had been a security guard for G4S Secure Solutions. The company said two screenings-one conducted upon hiring and the other in 2013-had raised no red flags. Mateen held an active statewide firearms license and an active security officer license, had passed a psychological test, and had no criminal record.

After the shooting, the psychologist who reportedly evaluated and cleared Mateen for his firearms license in 2007 by G4S records denied ever meeting him or having lived in Florida at the time, and said she had stopped her practice in Florida since January 2006. G4S admitted Mateen's form had a "clerical error" and clarified that he had instead been cleared by another psychologist from the same firm that bought the wrongly named doctor's practice. This doctor had not interviewed Mateen, but evaluated the results of a standard test used in the screening he undertook before being hired. G4S was subsequently fined for lapses in its psychological testing program (see below).

In 2009, Mateen married his first wife, who left him after a few months; the couple's divorce became final in 2011. Following the nightclub attack, she said Mateen was "mentally unstable and mentally ill" and "obviously disturbed, deeply, and traumatized", was often physically abusive, and had a history of using steroids. His autopsy revealed signs of long-term and habitual steroid use, so more toxicology tests were ordered for confirmation. As of July 15, 2016, federal investigators were uncertain whether Mateen's steroid use was a factor in the attack.

At the time of the shooting, Mateen was married to his second wife and had a young son.

In the hours before the shooting, Mateen used several Facebook accounts to write posts vowing vengeance for American airstrikes in Iraq and Syria and to search for content related to terrorism. These posts, since deleted, were recovered and included in an open letter by Senate Homeland Security Chairman Ron Johnson to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg seeking further information about Mateen's use of the site.

During the shooting, Mateen made a 9-1-1 call claiming it was an act of retaliation for the airstrike killing of, among others, ISIS militant Abu Waheeb in the previous month. He told the negotiator to tell America to stop the bombing.

Despite numerous anonymous and named reports of LGBTQ connections, the FBI was unable to verify any claims that Mateen was homosexual or frequented gay bars or even knew the Pulse nightclub was a gay bar. The FBI investigation found the witnesses claiming Mateen's homosexuality were mistaken or refused to go on the record, and doubts that Mateen was gay. Law enforcement sources said the FBI found no photographs, text messages, smartphone apps, pornography, or cell tower location data to suggest Mateen lived a gay life, closeted or otherwise.

On the day of the shooting, Mateen's father, Mir Seddique Mateen, said that he had seen his son get angry after seeing a gay couple kiss in front of his family at the Bayside Marketplace in Miami months prior to the shooting, which he suggested might have been a motivating factor. Two days later, after his son's sexual orientation became a subject of speculation, Mateen's father said he did not believe his son was homosexual. Mateen's ex-wife, however, claimed that his father called him gay while in her presence. Speaking on her behalf, her current fiancé said that she, his family, and others believed he was gay, and that "the FBI asked her not to tell this to the American media".

During his wife's trial in March 2018, her defense revealed in a motion that Mateen had Googled "downtown Orlando nightclubs" and, after passing Disney Springs, traveled between Pulse and the Eve Orlando Nightclub before choosing to target Pulse. Cell phone records indicate that the final selection of the Pulse appears to have been made based on the lack of security - not because it was a gay club. Trial witnesses said the decision to target Pulse was made at the last minute, and the defense's motion argued that this "strongly suggests that the attack on Pulse was not a result of a prior plan to attack a gay nightclub."

Security-camera video footage was recovered from the nightclub as part of the investigation, with a censored version later publicly released during the trial of Mateen's wife. Facebook activated its " Safety Check" feature in the Orlando area following the shooting, allowing users to mark themselves as "safe" to notify family and friends-the first use of the feature in the United States.

Following the shooting, many business venues in the United States, such as shopping malls, movie theaters, bars, and concert halls, reexamined their security procedures. Also, police forces across the country announced plans to increase security at LGBT landmarks such as the Stonewall Inn and at Pride Month events including pride parades.

Two former SWAT members, one an active-shooter tactics expert and trainer, expressed misgivings about the three-hour delay in breaching the nightclub, citing the lesson learned from other mass shootings that officers can minimize casualties only by entering a shooting location expeditiously, even if it means putting themselves at great risk.

Seddique Mateen released a Dari language video statement via Facebook on June 13 to speak about his son's actions.

A June 13 broadcast from the Iraqi ISIS radio station al-Bayan said Mateen was "one of the soldiers of the caliphate in America", without indicating any foreknowledge of the shooting.

On September 10, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services fined G4S Secure Solutions $151,400 for providing inaccurate psychological testing information on more than 1,500 forms over a ten-year period, which allowed employees to carry firearms. Mateen's form was among those investigated.

On November 4, it was reported that the Orlando Police Department was upgrading its equipment for officers following the shooting, since officers at the nightclub were not well-equipped for the event and therefore endangered. The upgraded equipment included ballistic helmets and heavier ballistic vests.

Following the shooting and a vehicle-ramming attack and mass stabbing at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, a new federal initiative was launched, partially in response to at least one victim bleeding to death inside Pulse during the shooting. The initiative was designed to train people working at schools and other public places on how to treat injuries before paramedics arrive at the scene. Doctors have emphasized the importance for school faculty members to stay calm and assess injuries, but also discouraged the use of more invasive emergency procedures such as removing a bullet.

The FBI's Office of Victim Assistance (OVA) provided "information, assistance services, and resources" to the victims and witnesses of the shooting that, depending on their case-by-case eligibility, may have consisted of "special funding to provide emergency assistance, crime victim compensation, and counseling". The OVA, through its Victim Assistance Rapid Deployment Team and Crisis Response Canines, also provided help to responders of the shooting in the days following June 12.

Immediately after the shooting, many people lined up to donate blood at local blood donation centers and bloodmobile locations when OneBlood, a regional blood donation agency, urged people to donate. The surge in blood donations and the fact that the shooting targeted a gay nightclub spotlighted the Food and Drug Administration's controversial federal policy that forbids men who had sex with men in the past year from donating blood. Despite expressions of frustration and disapproval by a number of gay and bisexual men, and LGBT activists across the country and a group of Democratic lawmakers urging the ban to be lifted, the FDA stated on June 14 that it had no plans to change the regulation and will reevaluate its policies "as new scientific information becomes available".

A victims' assistance center, Orlando Family Assistance Center, was opened on June 15 inside Camping World Stadium by the City of Orlando. During the eight days it was open, it provided help to 956 people from 298 families. Those remaining were then directed to the newly opened Orlando United Assistance Center jointly set up by the City and Orange County, which, according to the mayor of Orlando, "will stay open as long as there is a need".

The two hospitals that treated Pulse victims, Orlando Regional Medical Center and Florida Hospital, announced in late August that they will not be billing the survivors or pursuing reimbursement.

The City of Orlando offered free plots and funeral services at the city-owned Greenwood Cemetery for those killed in the shooting.

Equality Florida, the state's largest LGBT rights group, started a fundraising page to aid the victims and their families, raising $767,000 in the first nine hours. As of September 22, 2016, they have raised over $7.85 million online, a record for GoFundMe, with over 119,400 donors and an average of about $66 per donation.

Another fundraising campaign, OneOrlando, was established by Mayor Buddy Dyer. The Walt Disney Company and NBCUniversal, which operate the nearby Walt Disney World Resort and Universal Orlando Resort, respectively, each donated $1 million to the fund. As of August 12, OneOrlando has raised $23 million, with a draft proposal to start payouts starting September 27 on a rolling basis in which the highest compensations will go to the families of the 49 people killed, followed by the 50 victims who were physically injured and hospitalized for one night or more. OneOrlando's fund administrator said that the draft has not decided whether to pay people who were held hostage but were not injured, and will take public feedback in two 90-minute hearings to be held on August 4. A timeline of the draft proposal was released. On August 11, its board of directors decided that the funds will only be dispersed to "the families of the dead, survivors who were hospitalized, survivors who sought outpatient medical treatment, and those who were present in the club when the shootings began but not physically injured", and that family members and survivors can start filing claims until the September 12 deadline. As of December 1, OneOrlando paid out over $27.4 million to 299 recipients, according to officials, with six more claims worth an additional $2.1 million still being contested among family members of the slain victims.

IDW Publishing and DC Entertainment created Love Is Love, a graphic novel sold to raise money for the victims. The novel became a New York Times best seller and more than $165,000 was raised. Through Equality Florida, the proceeds were donated to the OneOrlando Fund.

A total of 603 calls to 9-1-1 were made by victims, family members and friends of victims, bystanders, and rescue workers during the entire shooting. On June 14, two dozen news agencies sent a four-page letter to Orlando's city attorney jointly demanding the release of recordings that 9-1-1 callers made on the night of the shooting. The letter also contained a request for scanner and dispatch recordings. The Orlando police refused to release the recordings, citing an "ongoing investigation". June 20, the FBI released a transcript of the first call by the shooter and a summary of three calls with police negotiators. On July 14, the University of Central Florida Police Department released nine body camera videos of UCFPD officers who rushed to Pulse to help Orlando police officers during the incident.

On July 18, the City of Orlando released a detailed 71-page document of OPD officers' accounts and responses to the shooting. Requests to release recordings of 9-1-1 calls, police radio transmissions, and the exchanges between law enforcement and Mateen were denied, citing disagreements over whether they fall under local or federal jurisdiction. The status on the authority over the recordings is pending a court ruling. On July 20, the Orange County Sheriff's Office (OCSO) released video footage from a body camera worn by one of its deputies during the incident. On July 26, the Orange County Fire Rescue released a recording of a 9-1-1 call made during the shooting. On July 29, the OCSO released dozens of pages of documents detailing the deputies' individual accounts of their involvement in the shooting. On August 30, the OCSO released the 9-1-1 calls it received during the shooting. Two days later, OPD and the city of Orlando released nine of their hundreds of 9-1-1 calls, which were all made by friends and relatives outside of Pulse during the incident; the rest are locked in a legal dispute between 24 media groups, OPD, and the city of Orlando.

On September 14, the city of Orlando released 23 additional 9-1-1 calls made during the shooting. These included calls made from rescue workers advising preparedness for dozens of victims, a patron who escaped from Pulse with a friend who was shot, and the brother of a woman who was shot several times and trapped inside a bathroom in the nightclub. On October 31, the City of Orlando released nearly 30 minutes of recordings of police negotiators talking with Mateen during the course of the shooting, after a judge with the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida ruled that these calls should be made public. A total of 232 other calls are still being withheld by the city.

On November 10, the Orange County Sheriff's office released about two dozen videos of body camera footage of officers at the perimeter of the nightclub during the shooting. The footage, which was heavily censored, depicted officers conducting searches of bathrooms in the nightclub and tending to survivors. On November 14, the City of Orlando released 36 police audio recordings made during the shooting, which record officers' attempts to contact Mateen, their remarks on his "serious, unruffled attitude", and their conversations about how to respond to the hostage situation. Also released that day was an additional 9-1-1 call made by a woman who made it out of the nightclub with her sister, who was shot. The next day, on November 15, 21 additional 9-1-1 calls were released. This was followed by three additional hours of 9-1-1 calls released on November 16. In many of these calls, people trapped inside bathrooms, kitchens, and an upstairs office were questioning why police had yet to enter the nightclub. Two days later, on November 18, 107 pages of transcripts of more than 30 9-1-1 calls were released. These calls were made during the first ten minutes of the shooting, and had to be released in the form of transcripts after a judge deemed them too graphic to be released as audio recordings. According to a city spokesman, all 9-1-1 calls made during the shooting have now been released to the public.

On September 14, 2016, the City of Orlando announced it would pay $4,518 to erect a new fence around the Pulse nightclub on September 19. The fence will feature a commemorative screen-wrap with local artwork that would serve as a memorial to the victims and survivors of the shooting. It will also be smaller than the nightclub's previous fence, in order to allow for more efficient navigation by passers-by.

On November 8 the City of Orlando announced its plans to purchase the Pulse nightclub later that month for $2.25 million and turn the site into a memorial for the victims and survivors of the shooting. The announcement was met with praise from Orlando's LGBT community. However, the vote was postponed on November 15, with the city explaining that "more time was needed to plan a future memorial", and that there was some discomfort from city officials over having to pay such an amount of money. The vote was expected to be held on or before December 5. In December 2016, the owner declined to sell the nightclub to the city due to emotional attachment. The owner then created the onePULSE Foundation, and in May 2017, announced plans for a memorial site and museum originally slated to open in 2022.

Officials have characterized the shooting as an act of terrorism. FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Ron Hopper called the shooting a hate crime and an act of terrorism; and Jerry Demings, a sheriff from the Orange County Sheriff's Office, classified it as domestic terrorism. City of Orlando Chief of Police John W. Mina said Mateen seemed organized and well-prepared. On March 13, 2018, the time of Mateen's wife's trial for aiding the attack, the FBI had still declined to classify it as a hate crime, and the prosecution said it had never contemplated arguing Mateen had targeted gays. They instead only (unsuccessfully) argued she provided material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

On June 13, FBI Director James Comey told reporters, "So far, we see no indication that this was a plot directed from outside the United States and we see no indication that he was part of any kind of network". He said the United States Intelligence Community was "highly confident that this killer was radicalized at least in part through the Internet", and that the investigation had found "strong indications of radicalization by this killer and of potential inspiration by foreign terrorist organizations". Several days after the shooting, the FBI announced on its website that it has become "the lead law enforcement agency responsible for investigating the shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, on June 12, 2016". The agency took the lead after the shooting was classified as a terrorist attack due to Mateen's pledge of allegiance to ISIS during the event.

According to Senator Ron Johnson, Mateen searched online for references to the shooting during the attack, and made posts on Facebook expressing his support for Islamic State, saying "You kill innocent women and children by doing us [] airstrikes. Now taste the Islamic state vengeance."

Federal officials said a SIG Sauer MCX semi-automatic rifle and a 9mm Glock 17 semi-automatic pistol were recovered from Mateen's body, along with additional rounds. Mateen had legally purchased the two guns used in the shooting from a shop in Port St. Lucie: the SIG Sauer MCX rifle on June 4 and the Glock 17 pistol on June 5. He and law enforcement were reported to have fired over 200 rounds. From his car, "hundreds of rounds" were found along with a .38-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver; this gun was not used in the shooting.

Mateen became a person of interest to the FBI in May 2013 and July 2014. The 2013 investigation was opened after he made comments to coworkers about being a member of Hezbollah and having family connections in al-Qaeda, and that he had ties to Nidal Hasan-perpetrator of the 2009 Fort Hood shooting-and Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev-perpetrators of the Boston Marathon bombing. According to new documents released on July 18, Mateen said that he made these comments in response to "a lot of harassment" and frequent derogatory epithets made by St. Lucie County Sheriff's deputies and his G4S coworkers, who taunted and made jokes about him being a possible Muslim extremist. The comments resulted in his employer G4S removing Mateen from his post and the county sheriff reporting him to the FBI. The documents also show him saying that he was "1000% American" and writing that he was against any "anti-American" and "anti-humanity" terrorist organizations.

The 2014 investigation was opened after he was linked to Moner Mohammad Abu Salha, an American radical who committed a suicide bombing in Syria. Mateen was interviewed three times in connection with the two investigations. Both cases were closed after finding nothing that warranted further investigation. After the shooting, Director Comey said the FBI will review its work and methods used in the two investigations. When asked if anything could have or should have been done differently in regard to Mateen, or the FBI's intelligence and actions in relation to him, Comey replied, "So far, the honest answer is, 'I don't think so'".

A little over a month after the shooting, the FBI provided more details about its May 2013 to March 2014 investigation into Mateen, which was closed after a veteran FBI agent assigned to the case and his supervisor concluded that "there was just nothing there" and removed his name from the Terrorist Watchlist. Mateen was interviewed twice during the investigation, and had provided a written statement in which he confessed that he had previously lied to FBI investigators. During the investigation, the FBI had tracked his daily routine using unmarked vehicles, closely examined his phone records, and used two informants to secretly record his face-to-face conversations. The FBI Director said that they could have taken more initiative in gaining access to his social media accounts in 2013, but noted that back then such checks were not yet "part of [their] investigative DNA". However, it would not have mattered, as the analysis of Mateen's computer after the shooting showed that his social media accounts, including Facebook, had no ties to any terrorist groups, and that he did not post any "radical statements" until the early morning of the shooting. The FBI in 2013 also did not have the probable cause needed to obtain a search warrant in order to secretly listen to his phone calls or probe into Mateen's computer.

On July 26, a Senate homeland security committee chairman sent a four-page letter to the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) requesting an independent review of the FBI's 2013 and 2014 investigations. He wrote that if Mateen had stayed on the FBI watch-list, the federal agency would have been notified if he tried to purchase firearms, in which case "law enforcement potentially could have uncovered information on social media or elsewhere of Mateen's radicalization".

On March 24, 2018, Sara Sweeney, the assistant attorney prosecuting Mateen's wife, Noor Salman, disclosed to her defense after the discovery period that her father-in-law, Seddique Mateen, was an FBI informant at various points between January 2005 and June 2016. Agent Juvenal Martin, who handled the elder Mateen since 2006, said he considered making Omar an informant as well, after investigating and clearing him in 2013.

U.S. officials said Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) may have inspired Mateen without training, instructing, or having a direct connection with him. Investigators have said no evidence linking Mateen to the group has emerged, and have cautioned that the shooting may have been ISIS-inspired without being ISIS-directed, as was the case in the December 2, 2015, attack in San Bernardino, California. Yoram Schweitzer of the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies suggested that Mateen associated the attack with ISIS to add to the notoriety of the incident, and said it was very unlikely that ISIS had known of him before the shooting.

On June 16, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency John Brennan told the Senate Intelligence Committee that his agency was "unable to uncover any link" between Mateen and ISIS.

Following the shooting, officers from multiple federal, state, and local law-enforcement agencies (including the FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office, and Fort Pierce Police Department) converged on Mateen's home in Fort Pierce and another home in Port St. Lucie. A bomb squad checked Mateen's Fort Pierce home for explosives. In June 2016, the House Intelligence Committee said that United States investigators "are searching for details about the Saudi Arabia trips Mateen made in 2011 and 2012."

Senate Intelligence Committee member Angus King said that Mateen's second wife appears to have had "some knowledge of what was going on". Media reports, citing anonymous law enforcement officials, said she was with Mateen as he scouted possible Orlando-area targets (including the Walt Disney World Resort's Disney Springs and the Pulse nightclub) and that she was also with him when he purchased ammunition and a holster in the months leading up to the attack.

Trial and acquittal of shooter's wife

Mateen's second wife, Noor Salman, was arrested in January 2017, at her home in Rodeo, California. She was charged in federal court in Orlando with aiding and abetting as well as obstruction of justice. Federal prosecutors accused her of knowing that Mateen was planning an attack. Salman pleaded not guilty to the charges. Salman moved to dismiss the obstruction charge; this motion was denied by U.S. District Judge Paul G. Byron.

Salman's trial took place in March 2018. During the trial, the prosecution revealed it withheld information during discovery that Salman's confession of helping scout potential attack locations was not true based on cell phone evidence, and that the FBI knew this even though it had been used to deny her bail. The defense also sought to dismiss the charges or declare a mistrial on Brady disclosure grounds after this disclosure, and after the prosecution disclosed during the trial that Seddique Mateen had been a confidential FBI informant "at various points in time between January 2005 through June 2016." The court denied Salman's motion to dismiss the charges or declare a mistrial. On March 30 the jury acquitted Salman of both charges, although the jury foreman said "we were convinced she did know" about Mateen's plans for an attack of some sort in advance.

In July 2016, law enforcement officials reported that the FBI-after conducting "interviews and an examination of his computer and other electronic media"-had not found any evidence that Mateen targeted Pulse because the nightclub was a venue for gays or whether the attack was motivated by homophobia. According to witnesses, he did not make any homophobic comments during the shooting. Furthermore, nothing has been found confirming the speculation that he was gay and used gay dating apps; however, the FBI "has found evidence that Mateen was cheating on his wife with other women". Officials noted that "there is nothing to suggest that he attempted to cover up his tracks by deleting files". Generally, "a complete picture of what motivated Mateen remains murky and may never be known since he was killed in a shootout with police and did not leave a manifesto". The FBI has yet to conclude its investigation.

In September 2016, an imam for a mosque in Kissimmee released video footage showing what appeared to be Mateen on June 8, four days before the shooting, praying for about ten minutes. The imam said Mateen was praying there with his wife and child, and had no verbal exchanges with any of the other attendants. Though the FBI was already in possession of the mosque's security recordings, the video footage was released to the public only after a series of bombings or bombing attempts in New York and New Jersey, and a mass stabbing at a Minnesota shopping mall in September 2016.

At the request of John Mina, the Orlando chief of police, the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) conducted a third-party "after-action assessment" of the Orlando Police Department's response to the shooting and its overall preparedness. COPS commissioned the Police Foundation to prepare the report, which was released in December 2017. The report concluded that the Orlando Police Department response "was appropriate and consistent with national guidelines and best practices" and saved lives. The report stated: "The initial tactical response was consistent with the OPD's active shooter training and recognized promising practices. However, as the incident became more complex and prolonged, transitioning from a barricaded suspect with hostages to an act of terrorism, the OPD's operational tactics and strategies were challenged by the increasing threat posed by the suspect's claim of improvised explosive devices inside the club and in vehicles surrounding the club." The report authors noted that they lacked access to FBI reports and other data about the crime scene and shooter, and did not have information about "potential law enforcement friendly fire."

In April 2017, the Orlando Sentinel obtained a copy of a 78-page presentation given by Mina to some ten police groups located around the world, which discussed the OPD's response to the attack and what it has learned. The presentation offered a comprehensive timeline of the attack and included diagrams and still photos from body camera footage showing officers in their initial confrontation with Mateen. According to the presentation, 500 interviews were conducted, 1,600 leads were followed up on, more than 950 pieces of evidence were collected, and more than 300 people were subpoenaed.

In December 2016, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement completed a 35-page "after-action report" about its response to the nightclub during the shooting. The report was publicly released in August 2017 after a public records request made by the Orlando Sentinel. The report generally praised the FDLE's handling of the nightclub shootings, but detailed the agency's difficulties in notifying families and complications arising from its inter-agency policies, which led to them not immediately sharing information about the shooting with federal investigators.

Governor Rick Scott expressed support for all affected and said the state emergency operations center was monitoring the incident. Scott declared a state of emergency for Orange County, Florida, and Orlando mayor Buddy Dyer declared a state of emergency for the city. On June 24, Scott directed that 49 state flags be flown for 49 days in front of the Florida Historic Capitol in Tallahassee, with the name, age, and photo of every victim displayed beneath each flag.

The Obama administration expressed its condolences to the victims. President Barack Obama ordered that "the federal government provide any assistance necessary to pursue the investigation and support the community." In a speech, he described the shooting as an "act of hate" and an "act of terror". He also issued a proclamation on June 12 ordering United States flags upon non-private grounds and buildings around the country and abroad to be lowered to half-staff until sundown, June 16. He and Vice President Joe Biden traveled to Orlando on June 16 to lay flowers at a memorial and visit the victims' families.

Many American Muslims, including community leaders, swiftly condemned the shooting. Prayer vigils for the victims were held at mosques across the country. The Florida mosque where Mateen sometimes prayed issued a statement condemning the attack and offering condolences to the victims. The Council on American-Islamic Relations called the attack "monstrous" and offered its condolences to the victims. CAIR Florida urged Muslims to donate blood even while observing the month of Ramadan -which requires Muslims to fast from dawn to dusk-and contribute funds in support of the victims' families. Some Muslim groups called on members to break their Ramadan fast to be able to donate blood.

The United Nations Security Council issued a statement condemning the shooting for "targeting persons as a result of their sexual orientation". It was supported by some countries that suppress homosexual behavior and discussion, such as Egypt and Russia. Samantha Power, United States Ambassador to the UN, led a group of 17 UN ambassadors on a visit to the historic LGBT landmark Stonewall Inn to express their support for LGBT rights in response to the shooting. Countries that released their own statements condemning the shooting include Afghanistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Turkey.

Many people on social media and elsewhere, including 2016 United States presidential election candidates, members of Congress, other political figures, foreign leaders, and various celebrities, expressed their shock at the event and extended their condolences to those affected. Vigils were held around the world to mourn those who were killed in the shooting, including one held at the banks of Lake Eola Park on June 19 that attracted 50,000 people.

OnePulse Foundation, a charity organization created by a Pulse owner on July 7, filed documents with a plan to fund and build a memorial at the nightclub. The foundation is collaborating with the city of Orlando to determine the location of the memorial. The non-profit organization also plans to start a fundraising campaign to provide financial help to the surviving victims who were injured and the families of the 49 who were killed.

The LGBTQ gun rights organization Pink Pistols, with 36 chapters around the country, tripled both its membership (from 1,500 to 4,500), and its Facebook followers (to 7,000), in the week or so following the shooting. As of June 24, 2016, it counted over 7,000 members.

In the aftermath of the 2018 trial, some media outlets re-assessed the reactions, possible motives, and media narrative of the shooting. They accepted that the shooting was not motivated by anti-LGBT hate.

Frank Straub, Jack Cambria, Jane Castor, Ben Gorban, Brett Meade, David Waltemeyer, and Jennifer Zeunik, Rescue, Response, and Resilience: A Critical Incident Review of the Orlando Public Safety Response to the Attack on the Pulse Nightclub, Police Foundation/U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (2017)

Orange County Sheriff's Office - Incident report (Archive)

Orlando Police Department In Progress Incident Report

Orlando Police Department officers' accounts from the Pulse attack

Pulse website

"'They Were So Beautiful': Remembering Those Murdered In Orlando"

"Singer Ricky Martin to be a spokesperson to build pulse memorial"

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On June 12, 2016, Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old man, killed 49 people and wounded 53 more in a mass shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, United States. Orlando Police officers shot and killed him after a three-hour standoff.